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Enlarge / Welcome to the mini-styled smartphone-RTS universe of WarCraft Arclight Rumble. (credit: Blizzard)

Blizzard Entertainment's first real-time strategy game for smartphones, WarCraft Arclight Rumble, is slated to launch on iOS and Android later this year, with a tech beta going live sooner in various regions. Ahead of that launch, we were invited to test the game's current version for a couple of days, and we can confirm that Blizzard is still pretty good at designing games for phones. (Even if they've brought at least one related gaffe upon themselves.)

In Arclight Rumble's case, however, a certain chicken-and-egg question comes up: When comparing this game to the wildly popular Clash Royale, exactly who is ripping off whom?

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  CGI intro emphasizes that you're tossing plastic figurines onto a table, which then come to life and do battle on your behalf. Gotta... WarCraft 'em all? [credit: Blizzard ]

Both games overlap, as Blizzard's new smartphone game adopts more than a few of Supercell's well-trodden, touchscreen-friendly conventions. Yet Supercell's game arguably borrows a lot from the original WarCraft series on PC—not just in its adherence to RTS traditions but also its medieval, primary-color aesthetic.

Enlarge / The Google doodle for Russia National Day 2016. (credit: Google)

Google's going... out of business?! That's apparently the case in Russia. As Reuters reports, Google's Russia subsidiary plans to file for bankruptcy after "the authorities seized its bank account, making it impossible to carry on operations." Reuters has a statement from Google:

The Russian authorities' seizure of Google Russia's bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations. Google Russia has published a notice of its intention to file for bankruptcy.

A regulatory filing showed Google Russia has been expecting to file for bankruptcy since March 22. The division did $2 billion in revenue last year, but that doesn't matter much when authorities take your entire bank account.

Unlike many tech companies that have abandoned Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Google has tried to keep doing business in the country. Heavy hitters like Google Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, and Google Play are all still running in Russia. Google's most important product, the ad platform, was shut down on March 3 in Russia after the Russian government started demanding it censor ads about the war. Over the next few days in March, the big four credit card companies all pulled out of Russia, making normal business transactions very difficult. Google cited this "payment system disruption" as the reason for shutting down Google Play paid apps.

Enlarge / The Twitter logo is seen at the company's headquarters on April 26, 2022, in downtown San Francisco, California. (credit: Getty Images | Amy Osborne)

With Elon Musk waffling on his commitment to buy Twitter for $44 billion, Twitter's board of directors yesterday said it intends to enforce the merger agreement at the original price.

"The Board and Mr. Musk agreed to a transaction at $54.20 per share. We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement," the Twitter board said in a statement reported by CNN and other media outlets. Twitter on Tuesday also released a preliminary proxy statement laying out reasons shareholders should approve the deal.

"Twitter is committed to completing the transaction on the agreed price and terms as promptly as practicable," the company said in a press release announcing the proxy statement.

Layers upon layers.

Since Sony announced its upcoming transition to a new, multi-tiered PlayStation Plus subscription service in March, the company has tried to explain that service's many benefits with thousands of (sometimes confusing) words across two blog posts and an FAQ. We have tried to break down those benefits with our own posts comprising thousands more (hopefully less confusing) words.

As we've struggled to make sense of the new offerings, though, we've found ourselves wanting a more concise, readable summary that breaks down each tier of the new PlayStation Plus at a glance. And we figured if we wanted that kind of quick reference, some of our readers might, too.

So please enjoy this breakdown of the new PlayStation Plus, as clear and concise as we could make it without leaving anything important out. We'll try to keep this post updated as Sony adds or clarifies new features.